The 2008 summer Olympics are going to start in a colorful ceremony inside Beijing’s Olympic stadium (aka the “Bird’s nest”) in a couple of hours’ time. Since we at LDN are big sports and especially Olympics fans, so we’ll take this opportunity to talk a little bit about the Beijing Olympics logo design.

The “Dancing Beijing” logo, depicting a Chinese seal inscribed in traditional calligraphic style with the character “Jīng” (京, from the name of the host city) was first unveiled in August of 2003 amid much fanfare and media spotlight in the historic Temple of Heaven, a Taoist religious complex located in the heart of the host city.

Chinese seals, like logos, have historically been used in providing authenticity to contracts, documents and artwork and the Beijing 2008 logo alludes to this fact. The curves in the dancing figurine also suggest the body of a wriggling Chinese dragon, a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and mythology. The open arms of the figure symbolize the invitation offered by China to the world to share its unique and rich culture.

The figure also has a modern meaning that it resembles an Olympics athlete crossing the finish line.

Red, the dominant color of the emblem which signifies good luck, is an important color in Chinese culture and society and for this reason is also part of China’s national flag.

This logo was chosen from a worldwide competition of about 2,000 entries submitted by logo designers from around the world.